Month: September 2011

“Although she emerged in the 1990s, Berlin-based English artist Tacita Dean has in her work a quiet depth not usually associated with the Pop and hype of the ‘cool Britannia‘ scene. Her film installations explore how chance and coincidence influence daily life, constructing narratives that connect past and present, fact and fiction, private histories and larger events. In “Disappearance at Sea” (1996) a three-part installation and artist’s book, Dean documents the tragic account of Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to fake a solo voyage around the globe, his eventual loss of sanity and his death at sea. The work tells the story through various fragments and landscapes, including a magnificent sea vista from a lighthouse beacon that produces a mysterious ‘missing narrative’ (as the artist calls it) reminiscent of 19th century atmospheric sea- and landscape painters. “FLOH” (2002) is a collection of photographs discovered by the artist in flea markets across Europe and America – holiday snaps or banal occurrences and events retrieved by the artist. Other works include a jukebox filled with ambient sound recordings from around the world, an endlessly turning Berlin seen from the revolving restaurant of the Fersehturm television tower and a frustrated attempt to follow directions (as misleading as they are meticulous) to find Robert Smithson‘s Spiral Jetty in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Her work has been presented at museums and galleries throughout the world […] and her films have also been screened at the Sundance Film Festival.” –from the publisher

The most recent podcast may be of special interest to members of the OCAC community. It includes an interview with the renowned, multi-media installation artist, Ann Hamilton. Her work concentrates on “using time as process and material” and “her methods of making serve as an invocation of place, of lost collective voices, of communities past and of labor present” (read more about her from her bio here). As part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Lecture Series for the National Gallery of Art, Ann Hamilton presented a lecture that talks about her work, her processes, and her methods of making across her entire 30-year career. Give it a LISTEN.

Then, if you’re still interested, come down to the library and peruse some of these related titles:

Bishop, Claire. Installation art : a critical history. New York : Routledge, 2005.

De Oliveira, Nicolas. Installation art in the new millennium : the empire of the senses. New York : Thames & Hudson, 2004, c2003.

Felieke van der Leest’s “Jewelery Fables” is a 96 page monograph that represents the culmination of her work for the last ten years. Van der Leest incorporates a variety of materials and techniques in her work, a combination of textile techniques and working with precious metals as well as plastic that coalesce into playful craft objects and jewelry. Animal forms are often appropriated and re-imagined into magical worlds – often with witty results. For example, a miniature deer is outfitted with crocheted “camouflaged” pants with a red and white target covering its rear end.

Besides the obvious enthusiasm for color and for humorous juxtapositions, some critics also take care to present the “serious side” of her work and how it addresses “issues such as the environment and dealing with [or the treatment of] animals” [see: this review]. Many of her works draw from her childhood in the Netherlands and traveling to the zoo in Emmen, but, most of all, van der Leest is an inspiration for all Makers: Her works radiate with an overwhelming sense of the joy of making and experimentation, as well as the sense that the world of Craft is inexhaustible and full of infinite possibilities.

What is Craft and what kind of art is it? Historically, Veiteberg argues, Craft referred to handmade objects that typically served a particular function in our daily lives, including functions in cultural rituals and rites. But what about the Craft object of today? Think of artists like Chris Gilmour, who manipulate the visual language of an object’s form (usually forms that imply action or interaction, such as a typewriter, a scooter, or a car) and meticulously recreates it with material (e.g. cardboard) that thwarts the implied function and frustrates the viewer’s expectations. Gilmour believes this creates a “short circuit between an implied action and the impossibility of performing it” (from “Intervista“) which, in turn, forces viewers to become hyperaware of the physical, economic, and social implications of the material itself.

Veiteberg also cites examples of ready-made Craft objects as other works that challenge the historical paradigm and call for further discussion on the future of Craft. Approaching Craft from the perspectives of history, aesthetics and contemporary art, Veiteberg discusses the transitioning world of Craft and “argues in defense of beauty as having value in itself.”

The 2011 theses (including the theses for the MFA in Applied Craft and Design) are now available in the library for perusal. The links below will take you into the library catalog, where there are records for each thesis complete with subject headings and summaries that will give you an idea of what each is about. Come take a look!